Facebook now boasts more than a billion users-and it isn't the only one boasting. With posts showing off work promotions you didn't get, fun parties you weren't invited to and exotic vacations you can't afford, Facebook and other social-media websites have become huge generators of modern envy. In the process, they're providing researchers with a unique platform for examining those feelings.
Facebook现在夸耀拥有超过10亿名用户――而且还不只是它在夸耀。在Facebook与其他社交媒体网站上，不断有人发帖炫耀他（或她）得到而你没有得到的升职机会、他（或她）参加而你未受邀参加的欢乐派对，以及他（或她）度过的你负担不起的海外假期。这使得Facebook与那些社交媒体网站成为引发现代嫉妒心理的巨大来源。在此过程中，它们为研究人员提供了一个研究这些心理的独特平台。
It isn't always a friendly picture. A study published last August by the journal Plos One, led by researchers at the University of Michigan, found that the more people used Facebook, the less satisfied they were with their lives. In another study last year involving almost 600 Facebook users, German researchers say they witnessed the 'rampant nature of envy' on social-networking websites.
局面并不总是融洽友好。由密歇根大学(University of Michigan)研究人员领头、于去年8月发表在《公共科学图书馆・综合》(PLoS ONE)期刊的一项研究发现，Facebook用得越多，人们对自己的生活就越不满意。在去年一项涉及约600名Facebook用户的研究中，德国研究人员称他们发现社交网站上“嫉妒心理大肆蔓延”。
So modern envy seems to be bad-but it doesn't have to be. Researchers are finding that, if approached the right way, there can actually be an upside to this deadly sin.
这样看来，现代嫉妒心理似乎是有害的――但它不一定就是如此。研究人员发现，如果处理得当的话，这种罪孽其实也有有利的一面。
Psychologists classify envy in two ways: malicious and benign. With benign envy, you are motivated by another person's success and strive to emulate it. With malicious envy, you want to cut the advantaged person down so you look better by comparison. Let's say you feel pangs of envy after your rival at another firm gets promoted. Malicious envy might drive you to undermine his success, but benign envy would inspire you to work harder and get promoted, too.
心理学家将嫉妒分为两类：一类是恶意嫉妒，另一类是善意嫉妒。如果你的嫉妒属于善意嫉妒，你会受到他人成功的激励而发奋去超越他的成功。如果是恶意嫉妒，你会想打击占上风的人，好让你相比之下显得更成功。假如你在另一家公司的竞争对手升了职，你感到一阵阵的妒意，那么恶意嫉妒可能会让你去贬损他的成功，而善意嫉妒会激发你更努力地工作以得到升职机会。
Studies show benign envy can be a great motivator. In a 2011 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers in the Netherlands conducted a series of experiments with more than 200 university students. Researchers found that when they triggered feelings of benign envy-as opposed to admiration or malicious envy-in the students, it drove them to want to study more and perform better on a test measuring creativity and intelligence. While admiration may feel better, the researchers found, it doesn't motivate performance like the pain and frustration of envy.
研究表明善意嫉妒可成为很好的激励动力。在2011年发表于《人格与社会心理学公报》(Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin)的一项研究中，荷兰研究人员对200多名大学生展开了一系列实验。他们发现，当他们激发出这些学生的善意嫉妒（而非崇拜或恶意嫉妒）时，这种心理会推动他们想多学习并在一项考核创造力与智商的测试中表现得更出色。研究人员还发现，尽管崇拜也许让人更好受些，但它不会像嫉妒带来的痛苦与挫败感那样激励出更佳表现。
Psychologists and other experts aren't immune to these feelings either. 'There's a man in my field who has made a big name for himself by so brilliantly promoting his work,' says executive coach Marcia Reynolds. 'Whenever I hear his name, I feel something in the pit of my stomach.' But instead of dismissing her envy, she reflects on it and asks herself, 'What's holding me back? Can't I play at his level too?'
心理学家与其他专家也免不了会产生这些感觉。高管教练马西娅・雷诺兹(Marcia Reynolds)称：“在我的行业中有这么一个人，他通过绝妙地宣传自己的工作而变得名声大噪。每当我听到他的名字，我就感觉肚子里有些不舒服。”然而，她并未着眼于消除自己的嫉妒心，而是反思这件事并自问：“是什么阻止了我前进？我能达到他的水平吗？”
'Those painful pangs of envy are there for an evolutionary reason,' says Texas Christian University researcher Sarah E. Hill, 'alerting us that someone has something of importance to us.' Building on this theory, Dr. Hill and others conducted a series of experiments, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, to test whether envy improves attention and memory-the tools needed to copy a rival's steps to success. In one experiment, half of the participants were asked to recall past feelings of envy; the other half weren't. The two groups were then shown mock interviews of fictitious peers. The group primed with envy paid closer attention and better recalled details about the interview subjects. In other words, envy made them more astute. Not only can envy motivate us to reach for higher goals, it may even give us the cognitive push to get there.
得克萨斯基督教大学(Texas Christian University)研究人员萨拉・E.・希尔 (Sarah E. Hill)称：“那些令人痛苦的嫉妒心原因之一与进化有关，它提醒我们别人获得了我们看重的东西。”以这一理论为基础，希尔博士与其他人展开了一系列实验来检验嫉妒是否会增强注意力和记忆力――这些都是仿效竞争对手的成功步骤所需的技能。试验结果发表在《个性与社会心理学期刊》（Journal of Personality and Social Psychology）上。在其中一个实验中，一半受试者被要求回忆过往的嫉妒心理；另一半则未受此要求。接下来，这两组受试者观看了虚构同龄人的模拟访谈。回忆了过往嫉妒心的一组观察得更细致，并且对与面试对象有关的细节回忆得更清楚。换句话说，嫉妒让他们变得更敏锐。嫉妒不仅会激发我们去实现更高的目标，或许还会在认知方面为我们实现目标带来激励。
Envy works at the office, too. In a 2010 Harvard Business Review paper, business school professors Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson examined workplace envy through the lens of hundreds of executives and their organizations over a 10-year period. While the case studies showed that unchecked envy can damage careers and organizations, the authors also found that envy can be put to good use. Your 'envy reflex,' they write, can point you in the right direction, focusing your time and attention on the areas that are important to you. 'Think of it as data on what you value,' they add.
嫉妒心理在职场同样也能发挥作用。在2010年发表于《哈佛商业评论》(Harvard Business Review)的一篇论文中，商学院教授塔尼娅・梅农(Tanya Menon)与利・汤普森(Leigh Thompson)透过数百名管理者及其所在企业的视角，对职场嫉妒现象进行了为期10年的调研。虽然这些个案研究表明不受约束的嫉妒会毁掉一个人的职业甚至是企业本身，但论文作者也发现嫉妒也可得到妥善的利用。他们写到，你的“嫉妒反射”，能将你指向正确的方向，将你的时间与注意力集中在对你很重要的领域上。他们指出：“就把它看作你重视之物的有关资料。”
To guard against falling into the malicious-envy trap, the professors suggest taking stock of your own achievements when faced with envy. In an experiment, they asked people to prepare for a task in which they had to evaluate a rival's latest idea. They asked half of the participants to list their own accomplishments or values before the task; the other half weren't asked to do so. The affirmation group was willing to spend 60% more time learning about the rival's plan than the control group. If employees were encouraged to follow similar thinking, they wrote, 'the impact could be huge.'
为了防止落入恶意嫉妒的陷阱，教授们建议可在产生嫉妒心理时盘点自己的成就。在其中一个实验中，他们让受试者为一个任务做准备，他们必须在这个任务中评价竞争对手最近的想法。他们让一半受试者在开始该任务前先列出他们自己的成就；另一半人则未受此要求。结果显示，列出自己成绩的一组愿意比控制组多花60%的时间来了解竞争对手的计划。他们写到，如果企业鼓励员工采取相似的思考方式，“其影响可能是巨大的。”
Envy that.
嫉妒去吧。